As The Rush Comes
by Salem Merciolago
Summary: Octavia's life never did anything fun. Sometimes she feels like she's doomed to play the cello and study basic school skills for the rest of her life, all under the watchful eye of her strict mother. That is, until somepony pulls her out of the drudgery she calls normalcy, and into a wild whirlpool of fun, music, beats, and a healthy dose of blue glowsticks. Octavia/Vinyl Scratch
1. Chapter 1

Hello, Salem here with LESBIAN FANFICTION *gasps all around* yeah yeah, I know, long time comin'. And you know, some _actual _ action and not just depressing mental Pinkamena stuff XD although I do like a healthy dose of PinkieDash. Anyway, this is Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, as their beautiful selves are just great for each other. I love Scratch sooo much. This is another song based fic, based off of As The Rush Comes by Motorcycle. Good stuff. Notes and warnings: I don't own the characters, just the creative situations and hell I put them through. They're all ANTHRO. That means a cross between pony and human, they have mainly human anatomy aside from furry bodies, tails, muzzles, wings or horns, and from the knee down it's your basic my little pony leg and hoof. They also have cutie marks, cuz well…duh. This is LESBIAN stuff, boys and squirrels, which means homosexuality of the female kind. Just…you know. In case you couldn't tell when you clicked. And rated M just for sure. That's all for now, do enjoy the rush~

As The Rush Comes

By: Salem Martin

Octavia stared at herself in her new full length mirror, an apology present from her parents about the move. She was still rather upset about it, nothing a mirror could ever fix, but she figured her parents at least tried.

It was early in the morning on a Tuesday. She had school in an hour, but had gotten up early to make sure she looked acceptable. She'd always gotten up early; it was imperative if her parents made her change outfits. Rather than being yelled at for an inappropriate outfit and for making herself late for school, she simply gave herself leeway time. Usually, she didn't need most of it, but it was nice to have anyway.

She turned to the left, then the right. Her dark grey skirt swished about her ankles, full and opaque, almost hiding her hooves. Her tail held itself high out of the back, all of her clothes having been altered to accommodate the full appendage without compromising modesty. Her top was black and long sleeved, with a high neckline that showed no cleavage and made her breasts seem smaller (which sometimes wasn't an easy feat, as she had been blessed in said department). Her mane hung over one shoulder in a large ringlet of dark brown hair that complimented the light coffee brown of her body fur and violet eyes peered out from thick lashes underneath carefully styled and pinned bangs. Her ears were free of piercings and her face was free of makeup.

Octavia sighed before grabbing a small silver cross necklace, clasping it around her neck, the silver a sharp accent against the gray. She then grabbed a silver charm bracelet, the only charm being a treble clef that mirrored her cutie mark hidden by her skirt. Deeming herself presentable and checking to make sure her bed was made correctly, she grabbed her dark purple corduroy messenger bag and made her way into the kitchen, where her mother was busy making toast and eggs for her and her father. She hung the bag on the back of her chair before sitting down quietly.

Her mother set a plate in front of her, scrutinizing her outfit carefully before setting a plate in front of her father as well.

"You look nice, Octavia," she said, her voice stern as she sat down across from her daughter. Octavia just bowed her head respectfully, waiting for permission to speak. "Are you excited to go to a new school? We selected only the best for our prestigious daughter, even if it has to be a public school."

"I am excited to excel, mother, and I don't mind if it's a public school," she replied softly, murmuring a quick grace under her breath before tearing her toast into bite sized pieces and dipping it into her egg. She shrank into her seat slightly as she watched her mother purse her lips.

"Well, don't get too enthusiastic about it, Octavia. It's edu-cation, not va-cation, so even though it is a public school, I expect the same kind of effort and excellence as before, if not more in such an environment," she clipped out. Octavia nodded sullenly and quickly ate the rest of her breakfast.

After washing her dishes, she slung her bag over her shoulder and followed her father out to their car, and onto her first day of school in a new city.

. . .

Octavia sat outside the school, being too early to get inside yet. She'd found a bench and was going over some new music her mother had ordered for her. Her new private cello lessons wouldn't begin until next week, but her cello would be coming through the express mail tomorrow, and her mother wanted her to get a head start on practicing.

"You're new here, aren't you?"

Octavia jumped slightly, startled as a voice sounded in front of her. She looked up to find a lavender colored anthro filly with long deep purple hair accented with fuchsia streaks, straight cut bangs, and a unicorn horn. She wore a modest outfit like Octavia's, except with a more school uniform type flair.

"Oh…yes, I am," she replied, holding out her hand. "I'm Octavia."

The purple pony took her hand and shook it happily, moving to sit down beside her on the bench.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you, Octavia! Welcome to our school," she said, crossing her legs daintily. Octavia watched her do so with mild jealousy. Her mother would have a right fit if she ever found her crossing anything, anywhere, in any way.

"Thank you," she said politely, returning to her sheet music. After a few moments of feeling Twilight's presence over her shoulder, she sighed. "May I help you with something?"

Twilight perked up, her ears twitching happily.

"That sheet music looks so complicated! Do you actually play this? May I see?" She asked rapidly, almost touching Octavia as she leaned forward to get a better look. Octavia sighed and handed her the sheet music, already tired of her company. Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed a neon purple, a similar glow engulfing the sheets of paper. She spread them out in front of her with her magic, flipping through them with a look of amazement in her eyes.

"This is amazing, Octavia!" She exclaimed, practically sparkling. The coffee colored filly smiled self-importantly.

"It's not hard," she said, her voice taking on a slightly arrogant tone at the praise. "I've played the cello all my life. It's my destiny to play music, so of course, it's really nothing."

Twilight Sparkle just beamed.

"A musical cutie mark? That's so cool! I got my cutie mark in magic," she replied, and Octavia deflated a bit. Magic was definitely cooler than music any day.

"Magic? How…lovely," she said, trying not to sound forced. Twilight just smiled more, glowing in more ways than one. Octavia tried to let it go.

The bell rang, and Twilight put the sheet music back in order before handing it back to the coffee colored filly. Octavia took it, smiling as politely as she could, placing it in her messenger bag.

"Well, Octavia, it was lovely to meet you! If you want, you're welcome to join my friends and I at our lunch table. I know how hard it can be to be the new filly," the purple unicorn said cheerily. Octavia just smiled wider and nodded, walking past her and into the school.

. . .

Lunch came about and Octavia already hated school. Granted, she'd hated her old private school a lot more, but the work was still ridiculous. On top of school and private cello lessons, she had all of her orchestra concerts and activities she'd have to plan around. As she sat down at an empty table to eat her packed lunch, she wondered vaguely if she'd even have time to sleep this school year. She sighed, brushing her hair off of her shoulder and pulling her tail to sit neatly beside her. She opened her lunchbox, the bland healthy assortment of food staring at her almost mockingly. She picked at it mournfully, wishing just for once her mother would let her have something sweet for dessert.

"Octavia!"

Octavia looked up as her name was called, her mouth tightening into a thin line that reminded her of her mother as she saw Twilight Sparkle jogging toward her, flanked by a few other fillies. She struggled to keep her ears up and perky, like she was interested.

Twilight sat next to her, smiling wide. Five other ponies sat down in the extra seats, all looking at Octavia with welcoming, friendly eyes. This was new to the coffee colored pony, as all of the ponies from her last school were generally distant and more concerned about their schoolwork and various competitions to care about silly things like friendship.

"Girls, this is my new friend, Octavia. She just moved here," Twilight said, opening her pudding cup that Octavia eyed with jealousy. "Octavia, this is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. They're all really excited to meet you, finally!"

A sky blue Pegasus anthro filly snorted and leaned on her elbow, flapping her wings irritably as she stabbed her straw into her milk carton.

"Yeah, she wouldn't shut up about you, going on and on about music or whatever," she lamented (Rainbow Dash, if Octavia had kept up with the purple pony correctly). She had a spiky, punky rainbow colored mane and tail and candied ruby eyes. She was wearing basketball shorts, a t-shirt, and a arrogant expression.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said indignantly, causing said pegasus to roll her eyes.

"Well, I for one am ecstatic to finally meet a pony of what seems to be very high class," a pristine white unicorn filly said. Her purple mane and tail were curled carefully and she wore expensive looking clothes. Rarity, Octavia figured her name was. She looked like she belonged to such a name. "Where did you say you were from, darling?"

Octavia opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a bright pink pony who jumped up and slammed her hands down on the table with a slap.

"Ooo! Let me guess, let me guess! I love guessing, can I guess? Oh please let me guess!" She pleaded at hyper speed, her mass of unruly light pink curls bouncing in time with the rest of her. She wore a bright blue tutu and a pink tank top that sparkled. This one, Octavia thought as she nodded cautiously, had to be Pinkie Pie.

The pink pony sprung upright, clapping her hands in glee as she jumped up and down.

"Appleloosa? Cloudsdale? Oh wait, you're not a pegasus, ha! Silly me. Hm. Manehatten? Canterlot? Oh please tell me I'm getting warm!" She said, and it took Octavia a moment to stutter a reply.

"I'm, uhm, I'm from Canterlot. My father moved here due to business," she said softly. Pinkie Pie looked like she was going to explode.

"I got it RIGHT!" She yelled, earning a hard look from the lunch room supervisor. She smiled in apology and sat down, opening her lunch box with a pop and a cloud of colored confetti. Octavia felt her heart sink. Her lunch box never did anything fun like that. Her life never did anything fun.

"Oh, Canterlot!" Rarity squealed, almost sparkling. "That is so posh! What was it like, living there? Were you near the castle? Did you go shopping? Are the boutiques marvelous?"

Octavia shrugged and pulled at her cabbage sandwich.

"I could see the castle from my room, but I wasn't allowed to go shopping downtown very much," she said regretfully. Rarity pouted and turned to primping her mane in a small mirror on her lunch box.

"That's too bad, darling, I've heard something else about the downtown," she sighed. An orange pony with blonde hair and freckles rolled green eyes at her.

"Don't you listen t' Rarity, she's a bit outta her element in this town, if yah catch mah drift," she said, her accent strong. She wore a white shirt under a jean vest with jean shorts and her mane and tail in ponytails. Applejack, Octavia ticked off mindlessly, wanting to get up and just walk away.

"She's not the only one," the coffee colored pony replied, slightly morosely. A yellow pegasus gave her a look of sympathy underneath a heap of straight pink hair. Fluttershy.

"It…it's hard to move, isn't it?" She nearly whispered, tilting her head forward so that more of her mane covered her face.

"It is," Octavia replied. "But it's nothing I can't handle. I have plenty to keep me busy that isn't any different from Canterlot."

She took a hesitant bite of her sandwich, hating it and hating the cheer and bond these ponies had with each other. Even though they'd made snide comments and poked fun, that's all it was-fun. She could tell they were close, and she hated that. She hated that they had what she didn't. She looked up to see Pinkie Pie not three inches from her, staring at her with large blue eyes.

"May I help you?" She said crossly, leaning away from the pink earth pony. Pinkie looked at her sandwich, then back to her, then to her sandwich, then frowned.

"What _is_ that?" She asked, poking it. Octavia jerked it away, confused.

"My…lunch?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head and snatched the sandwich from Octavia, sitting back down in her seat and ignoring the music pony's protests. She opened the sandwich and made a disgusted face.

"Now hold on! Cabbage shouldn't ever be used as a main course! This is blasphemy! Where's your dessert? The sugar? THE GOOD STUFF?" Pinkie demanded, throwing the sandwich on the table in anger. Octavia stared at her incredulously.

"I…I'm not allowed to have anything sweet," she said, even more confused than before. Pinkie Pie grew pinker in the face and all the other fillies looked at her nervously.

"Oh hell…" Rainbow Dash muttered, scooting away. Twilight just laughed nervously.

"Pinkie Pie, not everyone's parents own a sweets shop," she scolded gently. "Some parents are concerned about their foal's health, it's not a bad thing."

Pinkie Pie glared at Twilight. With a harrumph, she began rooting through her lunch box, confetti pieces fluffing out occasionally. After a few moments, she produced a brightly decorated cupcake.

"Here! This is the only stuff you need," she said triumphantly, handing it to a very surprised Octavia. It was red velvet cake with pink frosting, decorated with round rainbow sprinkles. The paper had a balloon pattern on it.

"Thank…you…" she said softly, peeling the paper off slowly and taking a small bite. It was strange, how much she'd forgotten about sweets. "It's been a long time since I've had a cupcake."

"Whaa? That's crazy talk!" Pinkie exclaimed. Octavia shrugged, taking a larger bite. "You should be glad I intervened, can you imagine what would have happened if I didn't? CHAOS! It'd be chaos! And only Fluttershy's _boyfriend_ wants that."

Fluttershy immediately blushed a deep red, staring at Pinkie.

"He's…he's n-not my b-b-b-boyfriend…" she stammered, embarrassed. Rainbow Dash just grinned mischievously and leaned on the table.

"Oh yeah? Then what were you two _friends_ doing sucking face out behind the art building yesterday?" She teased, and Fluttershy made a choking sound. "That's what I thought."

Before Octavia could figure out what they were going on about, a voice cut through the lunch room.

"Yo, Rain-bow Dash!"


	2. Chapter 2

Octavia froze in the middle of her cupcake, staring at the pony making her way over to their table. She was lithe, with white fur and a delicate white unicorn horn spiraled underneath shockingly colored hair. Her mane and tail were spiked crazier than Rainbow Dash's, light blue against ocean blue, and her eyes were a deep crimson color. Brightly colored bracelets lined her wrists, made out of plastic beads of different shapes, and her clothes were tight and revealing. Her tank top was neon blue and far too low cut to be any sort of appropriate, even though she wasn't very well endowed. Her shorts were definitely short, and had cutie pockets, circles cut out of the sides to show off her black quarter note cutie marks. Giant purple sunglasses rested on top of her head precariously as she almost tackled her pegasus friend.

"Yo yourself, Scratch! What up? I thought you were suspended," Rainbow Dash said, stealing the unicorn's glasses and putting them on.

"Eh? Oh yeah, that. Well, you know, I'm in the office, cut to thirty minutes later, boom, here I am, free of charge," the unicorn replied, straightening up and snatching the glasses back. "And man, come on, I wasn't even doing anything that bad! Just…tryin' to superglue cotton balls together, that's all. Easy mistake."

Octavia felt Twilight tense up next to her and glanced over questioningly. Twilight huffed and took a sip of her carrot juice.

"That's Vinyl Scratch," the purple unicorn explained quietly to Octavia. "She's Rainbow's friend, but honestly, I don't approve. She's…a bit wild, if you know what I mean. Parties a lot."

Octavia opened her mouth to reply, but was once again interrupted as Vinyl Scratch laid her upper half across the table, forcing some of the ponies to move bits of their lunches with annoyance.

"What do my ears hear? Gossip? Rumors? About me?" She chirped out breathlessly, forcing a good girl type of voice. "You are all too kind, Sparks, looks like my reputation precedes me."

Twilight just rolled her eyes and grumbled underneath her breath, which Vinyl ignored with glee.

"You're the new girl, aren't you? The pretty, posh princess straight from Canterlot," she said, smirking. "I hear the raves are a blast there. Ever go?"

Octavia tensed as Twilight had done, scrutinizing her cupcake instead of the pony in front of her.

"No, I didn't," she replied quietly but primly, like her mother would do. In truth, she didn't even know what it was she wasn't going to; she'd never heard of a rave.

"Aww, shame shame. You seem like you really party hard," the unicorn said sarcastically, reaching over and suddenly swiping a chunk of frosting off of her cupcake. Octavia frowned and glared at Vinyl Scratch.

"Don't touch things that aren't yours, especially other ponies' food! I have no idea where your filthy hands have been!" She snapped, setting the cupcake down on the other side of her lunchbox, away from the white pony.

Vinyl sneered at her, sticking her frosting covered finger in her mouth, making the action far more sexual than it needed to be. Octavia flushed furiously and refrained from slapping the unicorn.

"Yeah, of course you don't, cuz the places they've been you don't even know exist in your little sheltered princess life," Vinyl retorted, standing upright with a huff and a flick of her mane. "Enjoy your bubble-pony lunch, princess."

Octavia clenched her teeth as the unicorn sauntered away from the table, emphasizing the swivel in her hips with an extra swish in her tail. The coffee colored pony stared at her lunchbox for a moment, then at the mauled cupcake she no longer felt like eating. Knowing the white unicorn, she was probably some nasty slut with her fingers in places they didn't belong.

But she'd be damned if she didn't wish she had that kind of self-confidence.

The flush stayed on her cheeks as she willed herself to stay strong and keep the tears out of her eyes. She quietly and carefully packed up her partially eaten lunch, zipping the lunchbox closed and picking up her backpack. She pinched the cupcake between two fingers, careful not to touch the frosting, and forced a small smile to the group as she stood.

"It was lovely sitting with you girls, but I have some things I must attend to," she said, her voice steady, but her insides wavering. "Thank you again, Pinkie Pie, for so kindly sharing your dessert with me."

Pinkie smiled with a brightness to rival the sun.

"Anytime, friend o' mine! Hey, lookie there, I rhymed!" She said, snorting with laughter at her own mite of cleverness. "It's about time, I was getting as sour as a lime, gotta keep…uhm…ah…oh well! Brine!"

The pink pony dissolved into giggles, and Octavia felt her smile become more strained. She turned with a twirl of her skirt and her tail, waving primly as a chorus of good-byes followed her departure. She walked out of the cafeteria as fast as she could without seeming strange, trying to keep her composure and remember where her locker was located. She threw the cupcake in the trash as soon as she was out of sight of the others. Her steps quickened as she neared the metal storage unit, and her fingers fumbled on the lock as she jerked it open. She shoved her lunch box inside and slammed it shut, jamming the lock shut and hurrying to the filly's room, locking herself in a stall, finally able to break down without being noticed or judged or teased.

Her vision blurred and she hugged herself tightly, hot tears sliding down her cheeks making her ugly and pathetic. She knew she was sheltered, but wasn't that where mother always said it was safe? Don't go outside, Octavia, there could be nasty foals. Don't touch that, Octavia, it's full of germs. Don't eat that, it'll make you fat. Don't wear that, people will think you're a prostitute. Don't think that, you'll go to hell.

Don't live, Octavia. It's bad for you.

She choked out a sob, leaning over slightly and hating everything around her. This public school with all its free ponies with nice parents who didn't keep their foal in a bubble. Twilight and all of her happy friends with their pretty lunchboxes and cute clothes and fucking Vinyl Scratch with all of her confidence and cutie pockets and sex appeal. Octavia wished she hadn't thrown the cupcake away. She'd stuff her face with the sugary treat and then maybe that'd fill the aching hole in her heart. Or maybe she'd just get fat and then her mother would really have a reason to hate her.

She sniffled loudly and stared at her long skirt and sleeves with absolute contempt, wishing she had the guts to cut her own cutie pockets and show all the other ponies her cutie mark. The one thing she was good at, the one thing she loved, the one thing she was proud of. Even that was controlled and overused and sat upon by her mother's heavy fat flank, turning her destiny into its own special kind of hell.

She hated herself. She hated Twilight Sparkle. She hated her mother. She hated Vinyl Scratch, and Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, and she hated her cello and she hated her school and…

She sighed, biting back a wail. She couldn't do this anymore. She…she just couldn't.

Fresh tears fell from her eyes as she stood up straight and squared her shoulders, taking a deep shuddering breath. She couldn't do this anymore, but she had to. It'd be worse for her if she let down the people who expected so much from her. She was strong. She was confident. She was intelligent. She was beautiful and talented.

Wasn't she?

Sniffing again, she pulled out some toilet paper and blew her nose, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve. She took another deep breath, steadier this time around. She picked up her bag, trying to forget that she just let herself wallow in such low self-pity like that. If only her mother could see her…

She unlocked the stall door and opened it, shaking her head of the image. She didn't ever want her mother to see her like that. It was bad enough having been scolded for tears as a child. She didn't want to imagine what her mother would do if she saw her crying now.

"Whoa, man."

Octavia gasped, her hand flying to her chest as her eyes looked up to see Vinyl standing there, looking like she'd just walked into the bathroom. She immediately dipped her head, hiding it behind her mane as well as she could, pulling her ears back.

"Oh…you…you startled me," she breathed, her heart leaping into her throat as she realized what a mess she must look like. How long had Vinyl really been there, listening to her shame? Octavia almost felt like crying again out of sheer embarrassment. How dare she be so careless and let someone see her weak, let alone someone like Vinyl.

"Hey…um, fuck, were you crying?" The white unicorn asked, the profanity making her awkward worry seem false. Octavia searched for the small amount of anger she always had stored away for social interactions, to bring it out and create the pompous mask everyone was familiar with, the one she could easily hide behind.

"I wasn't doing anything of the sort," she snapped, striding over to the sink and turning it on, washing her hands with more force than necessary. She saw Vinyl giving her a strange look in the mirror. "What? Can't a filly get any peace while she's washing her hands?"

Vinyl harrumphed.

"You know, if you were crying about what I said, I'm sor—"

"I don't need your pity. Now, if you please, I don't associate with your type. Leave me alone," Octavia interrupted, shaking the water off her hands and pulling out a paper towel to dry them on. She checked her eyes, making sure they weren't too puffy or noticeable. She saw Vinyl's face tighten in anger, and almost grinned to herself triumphantly. Now Vinyl was the one who felt stupid, not her.

"You're just jealous," the white unicorn said suddenly. Octavia froze, her heart turning to ice.

"Excuse me?" She asked dangerously, turning slowly to face Vinyl Scratch. The blue haired pony smirked and crossed her arms.

"You're jealous," she repeated. "You're upset and you're pissed off cuz everyone has what you don't. You lash out to make yourself feel better, because your pride is the only thing you get that's good."

Octavia was struck dumb, her jaw working uselessly for a moment. How…how dare this…this lowlife…this…

Sucking in a sharp breath, she decided to not finish her thought process, and slapped Vinyl across the face as hard as she could instead.


	3. Chapter 3

May I just point out that I don't really care if Tavi's grey or not. She's always, ALWAYS looked slightly brown to me. So brown in my fiction she shall stay, until I see it fit to fix.

The days following the slapping incident were tense ones.

Rainbow Dash refused to speak to Octavia (which she was quite alright with, as she hadn't liked the blue pegasus much to begin with) and opted instead to snicker behind hands with Vinyl across the lunchroom. Twilight was mildly miffed at Rainbow's display of cattiness, having only given Octavia a simple smug smile of approval once she learnt of the occurrence. The others hadn't much cared, giving the coffee colored pony the same amount of attention and friendliness as before. Octavia tried to be as anti-social as possible, making up excuse after excuse to leave lunch early or to not be around the five ponies who were so desperately trying to be her friend.

Today was no different. She sat in the corner of the lunch table, ignoring hateful looks from Rainbow Dash and not even daring to think about Vinyl Scratch. Twilight was struggling to engage her in some weak conversation about music theory (in which she was terribly misguided on her information) and Pinkie eyed her healthy lunch in disgust, chewing almost angrily at a piece of white and yellow taffy. Applejack was going on and on about something her family had done that weekend, Fluttershy had opted to spend lunch with her not-boyfriend Discord, and Rarity was (as always) preening into the mirror in the lid of her bedazzled lunchbox. Octavia picked at a piece of limp, overcooked clover and sighed, sealing it neatly back into its bag and closing up her lunchbox. She turned to Twilight with the most pleasant expression she could muster and stood.

"I'm sorry, I forgot I have to be in early for orchestra practice. Since I moved, there's been a delay in my lessons and I need to get caught up," she said politely, forcing a smile. Twilight paused in the middle of her sentence and beamed up at Octavia.

"Of course! I know how important your studies can be," she replied. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Ah, yes," Octavia said lightly. "Tomorrow."

"Oh, and don't take what Dash is doing too hard. She'll get over it, she always does," Twilight continued. Pinkie nodded, her mouth bulging with taffy.

"Yah!" She muffled out, then swallowed with some difficulty, chasing it down with some cherry flavored sodapop. "I'll talk to her, get things straightened out. Even she knows what a meanie butt Scratch can be sometimes!"

"That's perfectly alright, don't trouble yourself on my account," Octavia said quickly, grabbing her bag. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that she left, her skirt whisking about her legs as she went, trying to leave before Dash or Vinyl got the strange idea to follow her or something of the like. The orchestra practice room was right next to the lunchroom, so it was a short walk, thankfully. She'd put her cello in her assigned locker earlier that morning, so there wasn't any fuss as she turned the dial and pulled the latch open. She lugged out the large instrument and carried it to an empty chair. There was no one else in the room, since it was lunch, and the ponies at the public school cared far less about their academics than the ones at her private school did.

She sat down primly and opened the case, setting her cello up with care. Even if she was forced to practice until her fingers bled and excel at concerts until she choked, this was still her special talent. Her one thing that she was most good at out of anypony else. And that was something that she coveted dearly.

The first drag across the strings was always the most chilling, as the instrument warmed to her touch and quivered by nanometers through the music. It sent warmth to her heart and reassurance to everywhere else. The second note was quickly followed by the third and fourth-fifth, and soon a solo symphony was dribbling from her fingertips like perfect streams of clear water, sad and liquid and beautiful. She allowed herself to be lost in the music, wrapping around her like a blanket and blocking out everything else: her mother, Vinyl Scratch, the school, her entire life. All of it disappeared and all she focused on was the beauty she made at her fingertips.

She played for who knows how long. Minutes. Hours. Days? It all melded together into one stretch of existence, beautiful and languid and fluid and—

A sharp click startled her and broke her concentration, causing a sour note to eek its way out of the cello strings. Octavia blinked as she struggled to return from her trance like state, looking around to see what had caused her to jump. Her gaze landed upon the door to the music room, which had been opened and shut, making the click upon its closure. A familiar looking white unicorn with blue hair was standing there, arms crossed and looking at her with scrutiny. Octavia drew herself up straighter than straight, adopting the equally familiar expression of arrogance.

"To what do I owe such an interruption?" She clipped out, annoyed at having to stop what she was doing to deal with somepony who wasn't worth her time. Vinyl just shrugged, the movement combined with crossed arms causing her shirt to ride and slip in a rather randy way. Octavia tore her eyes away from the unicorn, choosing to stare at the door beside her instead.

"Oh, not much, just curious to see who was that good at the cello, since all the cellists here suck shit," the white unicorn replied airily, not moving her gaze from the brown pony. "I didn't know you were so good at cello."

Octavia sniffed and flicked her bangs back from her face with a small, triumphant grin.

"But of course I am, it's only my destiny," she boasted, empowered by the compliment. "Though, I doubt you know how it feels to be good at an _actual _instrument, word around here is that your destiny is confined within the boundaries of…'technology'."

Vinyl stared at her in shock for a moment, sending another surge of confidence through Octavia. Finally, something she could hold high, high, high above this free, wild pony. A moment of silence hung in the music room, unbroken due to walls that diminished sounds from outside.

"…I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say that I didn't know how to play a fucking instrument," Vinyl said dangerously, standing upright and tightening her arms around her torso. Octavia just shrugged as lightly as Vinyl had done earlier, mockingly. The white unicorn took a step toward her, a dark look on her face. "That's what you think then?"

No answer. Octavia wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of it, naturally. Maybe if she kept her mouth shut, Vinyl would just go away. She wasn't surprised when the filly took a few more steps in her direction, her posture challenging.

"You think that just because you can play your silly little cello better than most that that is something to _boast_ about?" She continued, her voice slowly rising in volume. "Just because it's your fucking destiny to play the measly cello? Out of all the fucking instruments to be good at and you're good at the one everypony and anypony can learn how to play well?"

Octavia shifted slightly, beginning to get uncomfortable.

"Why, of course. The cello is a very complex instrument, and to get it to really sing, one almost needs a dest—"

Vinyl cut her off harshly.

"The cello is one of the simplest instruments out there! That's why fifth year foals choose to play it when they start music! That's why there are so many fucking cello players out there, _Octavia_. You're nothing fucking special with your fucking talent, so quit acting like it sets you up on some precious pedestal in the gates of heaven!"

Octavia opened her mouth to protest, but was cut short again by the white filly's now shouting rant.

"And you even have the fucking nerve to _assume_ that I can't play an instrument if it isn't keys on a computer! If you haven't fucking noticed, my cutie mark is a fucking eighth note, and those are fucking everywhere in everything, digital or classical! I've played three different instruments in school alone since I was in first grade! I've got more instruments than you can imagine sitting in my room tuned to perfection and played on a daily basis because I, as any other musically inclined pony should, respect the blending of eras as one sound! My instruments were never _forced_ on me. How many fucking concerts have you actually willingly gone to, you fucking momma's filly?"

Octavia stood suddenly, holding her cello tightly by the neck.

"Every concert is willing! I love my music! You have no idea what it's like to be a musician, you're just a fake who presses keys and plucks strings that sound nice enough to make it into your obnoxious rackets!" She yelled. "I was never forced into anything!"

Octavia was good at lying. Especially to herself.

"You were playing the Paganini Caprice 24," Vinyl spat. "My least favorite piece. And you're playing it with the flair of a tutored pony. It's a boastful piece without any true feeling behind it. I would know, I fucking taught myself how to play it because at one point, I felt just like you-like I had to learn! But unlike you, my parents never put me through anything I didn't want to go through."

"You can't say anything about how I am or how I play! You don't know me!" Octavia shot back, her ideas for comebacks starting to fail as she reached for anything she could to throw back at the unicorn.

"You don't know me either, bitch! I can play the goddamn hurdy gurdy, you have no fucking place to tell me _anything_, you one trick pony!" Vinyl screamed, her horn glowing slightly from the sudden burst of rage. Octavia took a tiny step back, and the blue haired pony turned on her heel and stomped back to the door. Before she left, she glanced over her shoulder.

"Just because you don't have what everyone else does, doesn't mean you can make nasty assumptions about ponies who could learn to be your fucking friends," she said acidly, and was gone with a swish and a slam. Octavia stood there for a moment, stunned, her grip slackening on her cello. She hated it. She hated that Vinyl was _right_. She hated herself. She didn't want to assume. She didn't want to fail. But she had. Of course she wasn't better than anypony else. Her cello wasn't going to get her anywhere in this day and age. It was common. It was easy. It was useless.

She'd been born with a useless destiny.

The thought hit her very suddenly, and her fingers went limp against the strings. Her cello, the one thing she had always counted on to keep her sane and important to at least someday, fell to the hard linoleum with a thud and a twang, her heart falling with it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, I love it when people leave guest reviews correcting my correct information because they're too Scootaloo to leave it under their real account so I can reply to their bullshit. Yes, I know what a beamed fucking eighth note is. I was in band for eight years and I play three fucking instruments. I didn't say Vinyl's cutie mark was quarter notes. I said it was eighth notes. If you'd read it, you'd know that. I'm replying to you publicly because you didn't leave me the courtesy of doing it privately. So there you guys go, you get my mini rant on how stupid people can be and how fucking smart they think they all are. I really, really, REALLY appreciate you readers out there who a) review and b) favourite and c) follow. It warms my heart. And I love you guys for it. Thank you so much. I'm glad the vast majority of you guys aren't dicks, I really am. There was no sarcasm in that. You don't know how much I appreciate your non-dickness. It makes me want to give you all hugs. Because you know I'm not stupid. And I love you for that. Thank you. **

**Anyway. Onward ho! This poor fuckin' filly… she just can't catch a break…**

"Hello?"

"Mother…" Octavia bit her lip nervously, trying to keep her voice from wavering. She heard a disgruntled sigh from the other end.

"Octavia, there had better be a good reason you are phoning me from school, I am at work, and if this is not an emergency—"

"My cello. It..it broke," Octavia said, not bothering to feel bad about cutting off her mother's tirade. There was silence. Then a click. Then the dial tone. Octavia held her breath as she set the phone in its cradle and thanked the office secretary quietly.

She turned, and left for class.

It didn't surprise her when she got called out of class to go back to the office twenty minutes later. As much as she wanted to meander, she knew what awaited her if she did. So with her head held high and her skirt swishing about her hooves, she strode promptly down to the office, struggling to emotionally detach herself from what was about to happen.

She took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Her mother stood there, tall and sharp and proud. Angry. Livid. Octavia cast her eyes to the floor as she moved out of the doorway.

"Well, do you have any lazy excuses to pelt me with, you lazy excuse for a child?" Her mother said, her voice cold. Octavia shook her head.

Of course, this dissatisfied her mother.

"I would have thought for sure you would have come up with something, Octavia. Breaking an expensive instrument like that doesn't just happen."

The corners of Octavia's mouth turned down further. _No_, she thought. _It doesn't. _

"I'm not surprised it did happen, considering you're in such a place. I cannot believe you would allow yourself to be around such petty ponies. Ponies with appendages that make them lazy and stupid have no right to be around you, who has to work hard to validate your existence."

Octavia caught Twilight Sparkle's eye, who was sitting behind the one desk as an office aide, in the middle of lifting a page with her magic, looking very meek and very upset as she pulled it out of the air with her hands and set it down gently.

_No, _she thought. _They didn't. _

"I cannot fathom why you are being such a difficult foal. You were difficult from the beginning. Your father and I work very hard to give you all you'll ever need, and you squander our hard work like it's something dispensable," her mother continued, her tone getting harsher with each sentence. "You know we cannot afford you a new cello. Why, we couldn't afford to send you to the private school."

_But,_ she thought. _You can._

"And you just continue to spiral into a delinquent foal who is disrespectful to me and your father and your elders. I am done with it, Octavia. You will not be allowed a new cello unless you are able to buy one of your own. You are grounded until I see fit to lift the punishment. You are to study your sheet music verbally until you provide yourself with a new instrument."

Octavia's mind blanked out, no longer trying to wonder how much allowance she'd have to save up to get herself a new cello.

"And furthermore," her mother said, her voice turning nasty, eyes snapping over to Twilight, who nearly cowered underneath the desk, "I don't want to hear of any more… 'friends'. You have no time, use, or need for friendship, especially any of this quality. I expect your homework to be finished by six tonight, or you'll be missing dinner to finish it. Good-bye."

And with that, there was a breeze and a click and her mother was gone.

Octavia sucked in a breath and forced a practiced indifferent expression on her face. She looked up and nearly lost the façade as she saw Vinyl standing in the hall behind the desks, frozen and staring at her with ruby eyes. Her cheeks flushed and the earth pony spun immediately to walk out of the office, almost slamming the door behind her.

Fucking Vinyl Scratch.

The pony of many instruments, the pony that didn't have to do what her parents told her to do, the pony who got to make her own decisions. The pony that wasn't a puppet.

Octavia sniffed loudly in the empty hallway, her hooves clicking against the linoleum as she took her meander from earlier and used it to go back to class.

It was so unfair.

Why did she have to end up with the dime a dozen cutie mark, the drabbest color scheme she's ever seen on a pony, clothes that were always so stuffy and hot but required because she was a "lady". She crossed her arms around her stomach and gulped back a sob. She couldn't even keep it together long enough not to cry for five minutes, what made her think she deserved anything but what she got?

Her mother was right. She was always right. Octavia was the worst child. No matter what she did, it was never good enough. She tried too hard or she didn't try enough. There was no in between. She couldn't _find_ the in between.

And that made her a failure.

Octavia slowed her steps and stopped, her head hanging and her throat tight and stinging from holding back her tears. She couldn't do this anymore. She was past the point of being able to do this. She couldn't win. She was never going to be a famous cello player. She was never going to be free. She was never going to succeed. Because her destiny was not the cello. It was synonymous with failure.

A hiccup broke a sob from her throat, and the floodgates opened, tears immediately falling down her cheeks. She shoved her hands against her muzzle, struggling to muffle the sudden onslaught of crying that hit her. Glancing about, she quickly shuffled to a small break in the lockers, squeezing herself inside and making herself as small as possible.

_A fine effort,_ she thought with a pained whimper, _seeing as I'm too fat to wear pretty clothes or eat sweet things like the other ponies. _

Hollow hurt streaked through her belly and she crouched over, the sobs tearing through her harder as her thoughts spiraled downward, turning in on themselves in circles. She was glad the hallway was empty for the next thirty minutes still; no one would be able to see her crumble.

This time, she didn't know if she'd be able to get back up. Was this rock bottom? What else was left? She had no friends or possibility of friends, her mother had made sure of that. She had no cello. She had no time. Not anything left.

She didn't even have her dignity.

What else could she hold above the others? The fact that her mother was better because she drove Octavia to madness trying to get her to succeed in standards set far too high? That she could do whatever lame thing she did without wings or magic? Vinyl was right. She didn't have what everypony else had. And that had turned her into a terrible pony who just made other ponies' lives terrible to make herself feel better about her failure.

She stared at the locker in front of her through blurred vision.

She was a failure, and she couldn't be fixed.

She should just take herself away, away from everypony she could possibly disappoint.

That was everypony.

To take herself away from everypony…

She took a deep, shaky breath.

Well, that wouldn't be too hard, she reasoned. She was sure there was some sort of drug she could amass in large quantities, over a little bit of time. Maybe even some poisons, already right there, sitting underneath the sink in her house. It'd be painful, but physical pain was nothing. Nothing compared to this.

She sniffed and wiped her nose carelessly on her sleeve, blinking.

Maybe she should research it, find out the very best way before she actually tried anything, maybe—

Something touched her shoulder gently, and she gasped, standing up straight and whirling around.

"Hey…"

Vinyl was there, mumbling that awkward greeting at her, sunglasses off and eyes worried. Octavia felt a flash of anger pang through the sadness, and another sob ripped through her throat.

"What? Have you come to laugh at me? To gloat because you were right?" She spat, her words breaking and strained with crying. "Because you were. You were always right. And I hate you for that. I hate that you're right. And I hate you because you're you. You get everything. I've got nothing. Nothing!"

Vinyl didn't respond, waiting. Octavia heaved with frantic deep breaths, anger rushing through her and coming out at the unicorn because she was _angry _and she was _sad_ and _dammit _if she was going to be mad at anypony right now, it'd be Vinyl fucking Scratch because nopony else was in front of her to get mad at.

"You can play any instrument, you're useful, you're beautiful, you get to wear and eat whatever you want, you have parents who don't force you to do anything, and I hate you for it, I HATE YOU!" She ground out through her teeth, using her hands to make her point, flailing them about. Tears rushed down her face, but she didn't care. She was beyond caring. She wanted to hurt Vinyl. She wanted to hurt her mother. She wanted to hurt herself.

She didn't continue, unable to put anymore feelings into words without slapping Vinyl again. And even though that sounded wonderful right now, she didn't need her mother coming back into the office and dragging her home to worse punishment. So she stood there and panted and cried and _glared_ at Vinyl, who looked down at the floor, nodded a few times, then looked back up at her.

And hugged her.

Octavia froze, her tears never stopping, but her heart might as well have. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been hugged, by anyone. Not even her parents had hugged her in a time she could remember.

She couldn't move, unable to process what was happening. She'd just told this unicorn, who didn't seem to take anything from anypony, that she hated her for everything she was, and she was hugging her? What was going on? What was she getting at? What did she want?

"Octavia…it's okay," Vinyl whispered softly, squeezing the surprised earth pony. "It is. It's always okay. Don't worry. I'm sorry, okay? I'm really sorry. It's okay. Please don't cry, I can get you another cello, it'll be fine, it's okay…"

Octavia made a small noise in the back of her throat and snaked her arms around Vinyl's lithe form, hugging her back tightly, her shoulders shaking with new sobs. She was past figuring out what was happening. All that mattered was that it was.

"N-nopony has ever b-been th-this nice to m-me," she stuttered into Vinyl's warm shoulder, her cries getting a bit too loud for an empty hallway. "Y-you and T-t-twilight and j-just everypony…and I'm j-just so mean…I'm so-sorry…I really am…"

Vinyl stroked her mane softly, humming lightly.

"Hey, it's just like I told you, Tavi, it's okay…" she murmured. "Now stop crying, you'll freak out a teacher and then we'll have hell to pay trying to explain shit…"

Octavia squeezed her harder and sniffled back a laugh. Only this pony could say something like that in the midst of such a moment.

Vinyl pulled back slightly to look Octavia in the eye, a crooked smile on her face.

"Ooooh, was that a laugh I heard?" She teased lightly, her hands strong on the earth pony's shoulders. Octavia couldn't stop the small smile that formed.

"N-no…" she replied back, just as teasingly.

"Ahh! Nope, it was! Got ya to smile! Haha, awesome!" The white unicorn crowed triumphantly, her smile growing. She rubbed the tears off of Octavia's cheeks with her thumbs and pulled her ears back upright. "There, now you can't be sad anymore. I took away all your weapons of sadness."

Octavia blushed and looked away. Of course she caused trouble, even for her enemies. She just couldn't win, could sh—

"Oi, get those bad thoughts out of your heart," Vinyl ordered suddenly, grabbing her chin and forcing Octavia to look her in the eye. "They'll get you nowhere. Now, you did apologize. Awesome. I admire that. So here's the offer I'm making you. You ditch your snooty booty attitude and I give you my old cello, in tune and great working condition, for free. But you gotta be my friend. And the other girls' friend, because Dash said they all really like you a lot. 'Kay?"

Octavia sniffed again, pulling her hands up in front of her muzzle shyly, unsure of how to react now that she had no defenses left to hide behind.

"Why're you being so nice to me?" She asked softly. "I was so rude…to all of you."

Vinyl shrugged.

"You were hurting. I get that. Not really an excuse, but at least you weren't doing it just because, you know?" She replied. "So…is that a yes?"

Octavia sniffed and folded her hands down in front of her.

"Yes," she said, pulling her chin up and nodding for effect.

Vinyl Scratch beamed, hooking her arm in Octavia's.

"Awesome. I thought you'd never humble," she joked. "Now let's go get your shit, I'll have Twily get you out of your classes for the rest of the day. We got a fuck load of homework to finish before six."


End file.
